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The US bilateral trade deficit with China was nearly $350 billion last year, nearly half of the overall trade deficit. Add this all up and economists are scratching their heads wondering why Trump keeps harping on about the trade deficit. With regards to the US trade deficit, think of it as a simple economic equation: We’re importing more than we export. Consider this: As the US trade deficit soared from 1992 to 2006, the unemployment rate dropped by 3 points. And he often warns Americans about the country’s trade deficit.

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The US bilateral trade deficit with China was nearly $350 billion last year, nearly half of the overall trade deficit. Add this all up and economists are scratching their heads wondering why Trump keeps harping on about the trade deficit. With regards to the US trade deficit, think of it as a simple economic equation: We’re importing more than we export. Consider this: As the US trade deficit soared from 1992 to 2006, the unemployment rate dropped by 3 points. And he often warns Americans about the country’s trade deficit.

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Donald Trump has a plan to boost the trade deficit in one easy step — Quartz

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This provides rosier news: When looking at value-added trade, US deficits with closely-integrated economies like Mexico, Canada and China actually fall by as much as 25%. Boosting the trade deficit would enable the Trump administration’s demands to renegotiate NAFTA, which rely on portraying the agreement as a bad deal for the US. For several years, critics of free trade deals, mostly on the left, have pushed for re-exports to be excluded from the grand total of US exports, arguing that it falsely inflates American trade gains. If you’re Wal-Mart, you bring things in through customs, even if you are going to ship it out through Mexico or Canada. At the heart of the matter are goods that are imported into the country and quickly exported again, with little value added.